"Cities jockey for top positions throughout the month, so Dallas is certainly still in the running," said Scott Goldstein, a Rawlings spokesman. "It’s important to note that DWU [Dallas Water Utilities] and the city of Dallas are engaged in ongoing efforts to promote conservation."

He also said there are plans to promote the contest through social media, on www.savedallaswater.com and at various community events.

The winners of each size category are decided by the percentage of people who fill out on an online water conservation pledge. Those include everything from fixing leaky faucets to using refillable water bottles to taking shorter showers.

There are no assurances that people will honor their pledges to save more than 1 billion gallons of water (and counting). But there are perks: prize drawings for winning city participants (LED light bulbs to a 2016 Toyota Prius) and a makeover for a pocket park.

“The pledges are symbolic,” said Steve Creech, executive director of the Wyland Foundation. “It’s really a way to just re-examine the way we use water. ... By hook or by crook, we're trying to connect with the people and get them to think about these issues on an ongoing basis.”

When Dallas won this contest in 2014, the city was struggling through one of the area’s worst droughts. With mandatory conservation in place, water was already a household topic.

City officials bragged that they were the first city in North Texas to switch permanently to twice-weekly yard watering.

Now the lakes are full and flooding is more of a short-term worry than drought.